This is an incredible read. It packs a punch and leaves you bleeding, but I have so much time for the genius of James Baldwin!
What happens when a young American man, David, encounters Giovanni in a Parisian gay bar while his fiancée is off in Spain? Can the two men really give into their desires? Why do they feel so protective and powerless? Is disaster inevitable?
This book published in 1956 looks at gay and queer lives in Paris during a time when they were necessarily on the fringes of society and precarious. In brutal language and terms, Baldwin looks at the contemporary demi-monde society and hierarchy.
It’s also a love story. A tragic one, but ultimately it’s also a brilliant portrayal of sexual desire and friendship. I also love the characterisation of the fiancée. There’s no easy paths to desire, to love, to happiness, even.
The narrator’s (David’s) description of his self-denial and self-hate are gut-wrenching, but my heart goes out to Giovanni. A real tragic figure, reminiscent of other classic tragic figures in literature, Giovanni is charming and charismatic and complex and unbelievably vulnerable.
Totally devastating portrayal of vulnerability and prejudice.
Side note: Deborah Levy’s book Real Estate talks about Baldwin’s house in St Paul de Vence in the French Riviera, and I’m reading it right now. Funny how books “talk to each other”. Makes me want to read a biography of Baldwin.
One word: brutal.
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